I made a decided effort to attend all five of my classes this week. On Monday, I was about four minutes into my twenty-five minute bike ride when it started raining. I contemplated turning back, but I respect my professor and his entertaining lectures, so I decided that it would be worth the miserable cold and rain. It was. We reviewed the life and literary works of Hans Christian Andersen, who was actually quite an oddball. I wish I hadn’t learned so much about him, as his quirks and lack of socialization have negatively altered my idyllic opinion of him.

Andersen stayed as a guest at Charles Dickens’ English home for five weeks, and by the end of his visit, the family claimed they never wanted to see him again. It has been said that he used to take out his false teeth and place them on the table when he wasn’t the focus of the conversation. Our professor, Mogens, said, “He used to write about the strangest things in his diary. He would talk about suffering terribly from the winds.” I thought this was reasonable, though, since the winds in Denmark are relatively dreadful. Then Mogens continued, “He would often write about having to diarrhea in his pants.” There was a collective “Ohhh” when the class realized what kind of winds the professor had been talking about. Needless to say, I can’t bike by his statue anymore without these oddities coming to mind.

Tuesday was the beginning of a new class, Comparative Welfare Studies. It was refreshing to have a young, vibrant professor. His name is Patrick Emmenegger and he hails from Switzerland. The class is very structured and there are required assignments, so I must stay on track and focused. The only downside, however, the class is an eight-week preparation for a thirty-minute oral exam. I think my NSAC presentation skills will come in handy come December 17^th!

It took every ounce of motivation I had to get out of my not-so-cozy bed on Wednesday for my marketing class. But I did it. Then I walked outside and there was a steady rain. Again, it took every ounce of motivation I had to unlock my bike and hit the road. But I did it. I was splashed every few meters or so by passing cars and rain was dripping down my nose and chin, despite having a nice winter hat. Holding a bike steady while you’re shivering/convulsing is a difficult task. When I got to class, the professor announced that she had some sort of illness and didn’t know if she could instruct that day. I never thought that I would pray for a class to continue, but I wanted that treacherous bike ride to count for something. Luckily, she fought through it for three hours. I went outside and to my dismay, it was raining harder. I try to look on the bright side, at least I’ll have strong upper-legs.

Later that night, Krista, Beth, and I went to Arkaden for karaoke night. By the way, I learned that karaoke is Japanese for “empty orchestra”. It was a good night, but I think I’m harder to please these days. For some reason, I just couldn’t be amused by groups of five or six extremely extroverted Europeans singing Britney Spears together. I blame it on the fact that I missed Leah, because that’s the easiest excuse. The highlight of the night was when Beth was forced to stay on stage and sing “opera” for the entire bar. She did very well for such a spontaneous performance, but I guess that’s why she’s in a Danish choir. The whole bar cheered at the end and the MC got down and bowed in front of her. Another highlight was when they poured alcohol on the dance floor and lit the floor on fire. I’ve convinced myself that next week I’m going to sing Bohemian Rhapsody or Hooked on a Feeling.

Friday morning, we had a class field trip to Hans Christian Andersen’s Birthplace and Museum. It was an enjoyable start to the day and a good peak into some of the history of Odense and Denmark. Funny fact, they had passports in the mid-19^th century. It’s something you don’t ever think about. I just assumed you could wander the globe at your leisure. But they had Andersen’s passport on display. It was unreasonably large, about 2 sheets of 8.5x11 paper side by side. The rest of the class continued onto the cathedral, but I had seen enough cathedrals to last a lifetime, so Leah and I went to lunch at our spot. I picked up a package from my mom, which contained a beautiful scarf, some cozy slippers, and three boxes of Crystal Light! It was perfect.

So, most of you should know that Halloween is my favorite holiday. I was particularly disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm Denmark has for this sacred day. They stopped selling pumpkins a week before Halloween and replaced them all with Christmas décor. I thought Saturday was going to be a total bummer, but it ended up being the best Halloween I had ever had. I bought a decorative package that included confetti, paper plates, napkins, cups, straws, and tablecloths. Patrick also sent me pumpkin lights, spider webs, and a scary stories CD.

So, the four of us got together and threw a carving party. Krista and Beth brought the elusive pumpkin. It turns out the Crystal Light my mom had sent me was red in color, so we made some “blood punch”. We also had carrots and Milk Duds as snacks, but renamed them “dead man’s toes” and “ghost droppings”. Then, we had the genius idea to bob for apples. I grabbed a bucket from my kitchen and we all donated some fruit for the occasion. It was, quite possibly, the hardest I have laughed since I’ve been in Denmark. I went first, luckily, because it was only afterward that I realized how unsanitary bobbing for apples is. So after that, we stabbed the knife into the pumpkin and took turns carving. It turned out to be pretty darn cute. We named her Penelope. Ken, our classmate from Taiwan, was having fun with us, since he had never been exposed to these American traditions. We had to give him the honor of lighting the Black Flame Candle, but only after Leah taught him how to use the lighter. We roasted Penelope’s seeds, made Halloween masks we thought we were going to wear to the party, and then gathered around my laptop to watch a classic episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark.

We dispersed to our rooms before the Halloween party downstairs. I got a message on Skype from Leah and we decided what our costume would be at the last minute… American tourists! I wore my I Love New York t-shirt, a sweatshirt around my waist, a fanny pack filled with maps and brochures, pins from all the different cities I’ve visited, a camera, non-English phrases written on my hand, sunglasses, and tennis shoes. It was a success! We didn’t think anybody would be downstairs, but it turns out everyone was downstairs, and people had really gone to quite an effort to dress up. I was so happy. We danced to Thriller and ate cake and admired all the costumes. The Spanish girls from our class were by far the creepiest. They had incredible makeup on and acted listless and creepy the whole night. We weren’t sure if they were on sedatives or if it was all an act. It was a great night. I prolonged it as much as I could.